Another Love
by Jacksgirl217
Summary: Rinoa has returned, making Cloud question the very ground upon which he stands. How can he compete with Leon's other love? - In response to the prompt: Private Dancing. Warm and fluffy!


**A/N: **This is in response to the prompt: Private Dancing. For a moment I thought of going all Tina Turner, but then I heard this song by Tom Odell and everything just fell into place. I can't tell you how in love I am with this song. It gives me shivers.

Enjoy.x

**Disclaimer: **All character and places belong to Square Enix and/or Disney. No infringement intended, no profit made.

* * *

**Another Love.**

'And if somebody hurts you, I wanna fight,

But my hands are broken, one too many times,

So I'll use my voice, I'll be so fucking rude,

Words they always win, but I know I'll lose.

And I'd sing a song, that'd be just ours,

But I sang 'em all to another heart,

And I wanna cry I wanna learn to love,

But all my tears have been used up.

On another love, another love,

All my tears have been used up,

On another love, another love.'

- Another Love, Tom Odell.

Leon was suddenly awake. A floating tinkle of musical notes drifted into his mind as he blinked his eyes open, the inky blackness of their bedroom cut through with shafts of silver from the moon. The window was open, it was too muggy to have it closed and the sounds of music from a party somewhere along the road drifted on the soft summer nights breeze that was too warm to be called pleasant. He could hear laughter, the soft murmur of talking and the way the music ululated as doors were opened and closed, people milling about in gardens.

They had every reason to celebrate. Hollow Bastion was now Radiant Garden. The heartless gone, Sora, everything was back to normal. Better even.

And _they _were back - he'd found them.

Leon stretched, the last remnants of sleep sliding from him and leaving him alert. He should have been out celebrating; everyone else was. But despite his relief he couldn't bring himself to relax. He supposed that was his curse, as leader. He'd never be able to feel like it was over, not truly. There was always something left to be done.

He rolled over, arm reaching out to search for the warm body that should have been next to him but wasn't. The sheets were rumpled and cold, an indent where a man had lain.

"Cloud?" Leon called; his voice husky and rough from sleep. No answer.

It wasn't unusual for Cloud to disappear in the night, but Leon didn't think he should have had any reason to go anywhere, not tonight. Their connection, which was so acute and had taken Leon so forcefully and so completely by surprise, told him that Cloud was near - he could feel him – he hadn't gone far.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he peeled back the sheet which had stuck to him with the humidity. He couldn't bear the thought of clothes and so walked naked out onto the landing; casting his gaze left and right.

He padded softly down the stairs, coming into the kitchen and found Cloud stood at the sink, his bare back and buttocks bathed in milky iridescent light, his gaze fixed on the houses that stood in organised rows as they steeped off down the hill; their roofs like pointed teeth in the cavernous mouth of night.

"Cloud?" Leon asked; his voice light and inquisitive.

The younger stirred slightly, his revere broken as he looked over his shoulder, his disquieted gaze breaking through the bangs hanging around his face.

The sound of music was louder down in the kitchen but the feel and the buzz of life somehow seemed further away. Tension filled the room, pushing everything else out to the sides.

"What's wrong?" typical Leon: cutting to the chase.

"Will you go back to her now?" Cloud's voice was so thick and deep, his tone flat and serious. Despite his question it sent shivers over Leon's skin. He had always loved the sound of Cloud's voice.

Leon didn't need to ask who Cloud meant but he was stung and hurt by the question all the same.

"How could you ask me that?" he asked, anguish clear in his whispered tones.

"Why wouldn't you?" Cloud answered back, a little too quickly, his voice hard and edged.

Leon had to take a few seconds to compose himself. Hurt and anger stirred in him and he had to remind himself to control it. He couldn't blame Cloud for his feelings, hypocritical though they were. It wasn't like Leon hadn't thought the same thing about Tifa or Aerith. He knew what it was like to feel so insecure. Still had he given Cloud a reason – _any reason_ – to doubt him?

He took a few steps towards the younger man and could see clearly the cords of tension in the way he held his shoulders. His tense jaw worked silently as he swallowed; the lines around his eyes tight.

"Cloud, look at me."

When the other swordsman made no move to acquiesce, Leon reached up and turned Cloud's chin with his fingers, gently rubbing the pad of his thumb against the corner of Cloud's mouth. The blonde's eyes held no warmth. Only hurt and misplaced betrayal - something that hadn't even happened yet. It was something that would never happen.

Leon waited a few moments, letting his soft gaze settle on Cloud, allowing the importance of his next words to soak in.

"I loved her once… a long time ago." his head was bowed slightly to impress the seriousness of his tone, the inches of space between them charged with meaning, "But I will _never _feel about her, the way I feel about you."

The ice in Cloud's eyes shifted slightly and he allowed himself a comforting breath, drawn in raggedly. He reached up to cover Leon's hand with his own, his grip tight and full of tension.

"I'll never leave you, Cloud."

They had never said it before. They'd never needed to, but all of a sudden Leon felt like it was the most important thing he would ever say. A promise: unbreakable and everlasting.

"I love you." _No one will ever take your place._

Leon pressed their foreheads together; his left hand coming to rest on Cloud's hip, pulling him round so that their bodies lay flush against each other.

Cloud tentatively reached up, framing Leon's face with his trembling fingers, bringing their mouths together, the kiss slow and loving - an apology for his faithlessness.

Once again the sounds of the outside world drifted into their little kitchen, filling the room with the slow swirl of music, delicate notes carried on the warm summer heat.

Leon began to turn them, his nose bumping Cloud's as they slowly stepped in time to the music; his fingers brushing blond strands away from a flushing face. Their slow circles were lazy and relaxed, and they danced quietly, intimately, passing small kisses between them as Cloud's arms slowly wound themselves under Leon's, his fingers dancing along the curve of the older man's spine.

"I'm sorry, I just…" Cloud began; his voice soft and unobtrusive.

Leon shushed him and pressed a kiss to his temple. "It doesn't matter." He pulled away, braking their slow revolving, and stepped back. He took Cloud's hand and tugged him towards the stairs and bed. Cloud followed, his cheeks heated with shame and lust and love and all of the uncomfortable things that Leon made him feel.

As they made love, it was as if they were discovering each other for the first time. Leon's confession had done more than illuminate their feelings. He had drawn a line under the past - what had been before didn't matter, only what was now. And as Cloud shivered through his release, clinging tightly to the man spread out above him, he realised how foolish he was to have doubted a man like Leon. A man, who had never lied to him, never played him or denied him. When Cloud considered how many different kinds of love there were, he marvelled that the most intimate should ever have been shared between them.

They fell asleep for the second time that night, listening to the sounds of a city that had taken a deep breath, and was letting out the sigh – replete, saved, and whole again.

-Fin-


End file.
